Page 179 of Scorched Earth

Yedda’s grin widened, her eyes shifting from stormy seas of anger to bright blue in an instant. “But what should truly ease your heart is that the gods saw fit to unite her with Killian Calorian.”

“She’s with Killian?” Teriana sucked in a mouthful of air, the ship and sky and clouds all spinning. “Marcus didn’t kill her?”

“No. Not only that, she has been marked by Hegeria and she’s—”

“Kitaryia Falorn,” Teriana said quietly. “Valerius knew. As did Mum.” She eyed her aunt for a long moment. “As did you, I think.”

Yedda gave a slow nod, her grey braids swaying. “I knew. But for all our efforts to keep her secret, I think it no coincidence that Lucius Cassius targeted her. As impossible as it might seem, the Corrupter’s reach has extended to the East, using Celendor’s might to aid in his bid for power. Blight spreads from the North to create armies of the dead even as the legions claim the South. Mark my words, Teriana, this is a battle for the liberty of Reath, and the Six are losing.Weare losing.”

Just like in the vision Magnius had given her so long ago. A great battlefield filled with the dead and the dying, banners of the Twelve Houses soaked in blood and crushed beneath the feet of an army with the burning circle of the Seven emblazoned on the flags they carried. A fleet of ships, the golden Cel dragon flying high in therigging, open seas ahead of them, darkness behind. Magnius’s voice whispered up from her memories,Enemies approach from both sides.

“It’s my fault,” she said. “I opened the door.”

“This is a war between gods, and you are a mortal caught up in the battle,” her aunt said. “There are no coincidences. Madoria silenced every one of our people who Cassius tried to question yet left your mind and voice free. She chose you as her champion, and I believe she set the stage to give you what you needed to fight.”

“The last thing I’ve done was fight.” There was no keeping the bitterness from her voice. “All I did was—”

Yedda gave her a shake. “You know the enemy better thananyoneon this side of the Endless Seas, girl. You know how they function. How they fight. How theythink. That is the most crucial component to knowing how to defeat them.”

How to defeatMarcus.

“All I have learned,” Teriana said, “is that beating him is impossible. Not even Kaira, who is marked by Tremon, was able to stop him. He took Emrant with a trick, Auntie. He’s every bit as good at war as the Senate claims, and the forces that he can bring to bear on the rest of Gamdesh are something never seen in recorded history. If finding a way to defeat him was Madoria’s goal for me, I have failed.”

No one spoke, her crew all standing motionless as her words sank in. The only sounds were the snap of the sails in the wind and the slap of the sea against the hull, her hopelessness infecting her crew.

Then drops of water misted her face, and something clattered on the deck. Teriana’s breath caught at the glimmer of gold and enamel, the tiny replica of theQuincensesitting in a puddle of seawater before her.

Madoria yet has faith in you,Magnius’s voice echoed in her thoughts as she reached out to pick up the hair ornament.You must have faith in yourself, and remember, you don’t stand alone.

The world around Teriana fell away and was replaced with a vision of the galley of theKairense, where Bait sat across a table from Lydia and Killian. Lydia’s spectacles didn’t fit her properly, her hair was dirty and her clothes worn, but her friend was smiling. Laughing. Magnius’s memory, she realized, the demigod having watched through a porthole. For a heartbeat, Teriana’s grief fell away, but as the vision faded, reality returned.

“Why didn’t Marcus tell me he didn’t kill her?” she asked Magnius as she stared at the ornament on the palm of her hand. “Why was he content for me to believe she was dead?”

It was Bait who answered. “Because he didn’t know.”

All eyes turned to him, and her friend shifted uncomfortably.

“And how might you be knowing that?” Yedda asked, her voice cool. “Had a bit of an exchange of words with the legatus, did you? Thought to twist the knife a little deeper?”

“I…” Bait shook his head. “I wanted him to know he doesn’t always win. That he didn’t defeat Lydia.”

Teriana closed her eyes, fear swimming in her stomach because while Marcus had said he had no interest in conquering more territory, she now wondered how much of that sentiment had been to appease her. To keep her. To control her. “So he knows about the xenthier path to Mudaire?”

“Yeah,” Bait replied. “He does.”

“You jealous fool of a boy.” Yedda’s brown skin flushed with anger. “If it were possible to drown you, I would.”

Fear gripped Teriana as she understood the true reach the Empire now had over Reath.East must not meet the West.And yet it had.

Closing her hand around the ornament, Teriana climbed to her feet. “We sail with all haste to Celendrial to retrieve our people, but then we sail to Mudamora to warn them that the dragon has the key to their back door.”

Bait stiffened, then said, “I think you know him better than you realize. Those are the exact words he used.”

Right now, it didn’t feel like she knew Marcus at all.

Teriana squared her shoulders, then shouted, “Full sail! The Cel legions move quickly, so theQuincenseneeds wings if we are to stop them!”

66LYDIA